‘Working at a hospital during pandemic made me want my old job back’

For the past 11 years, Natalia Carrasco, 40, had worked as a celebrity makeup artist for clients including John Legend and “Real Housewives of New York” star Leah McSweeney. But when the pandemic hit, the East Williamsburg resident was out of work and out of cash, so she took a job as a receptionist at one of New York City’s most overrun hospitals. Now, she’s more grateful for and eager to return to her old career.

When the lockdown started in March, every makeup job I had lined up got canceled within five days. At first, I was like, ‘This will be fine, I’ll use my savings.’ Then, things got serious and I wondered how I was going to pay the bills.

I was on Facebook one day and noticed this agency was looking for people to help with COVID at Elmhurst Hospital. At that point, I was up for anything, so I applied for the job and got